Rising numbers pressure staff

Suzanne Jamieson, a senior lecturer in work and organisation studies at the University of Sydney, says that under the Government's plan, the recent "phenomenal" growth in lucrative foreign student enrolments will intensify, with more ill effects than good.

"It has real implications for staff workloads," says Jamieson, who joined the university's teaching staff 13 years ago after a career as a senior public servant.

The courses that face the greatest increase in lucrative foreign fee-paying students as the university chases funds are the masters by course work programs in commerce and business. "And they already attract vast numbers of students from overseas," Jamieson says, many of whom "struggle with the material" because of their poor English.

Lecturers will lose more and more teaching time to sorting out confusion and miscommunication, says Jamieson, who has seen class sizes in some undergraduate courses grow from 50 to 200: "For a while, they were getting no individual attention at all - there's always a time lag between the influx of students and any increase in staff."

The expected growth in student numbers under the Government plan will outstrip any boost in staff, Jamieson says.

And if lecturers are hired to match the demand from foreign enrolments, the university risks exposure to global economic troubles, she says. Funds from foreign student fees are "soft money", sensitive to factors beyond Australia's control: "When the last Asian economic problem occurred, I had Korean students in particular who had to pull out and go home . . . "

Yet, with all the problems Jamieson has experienced in the education sector - which she expects to worsen - she remains committed: "I instantly halved my pay packet when I joined the university, but it was the right thing to do."